"We didn't get much schooling because we were fishing all the time": Potential impacts of irregular school attendance on the spread of epidemics.

This study demonstrates that absenteeism can have important impacts on epidemic outcomes. Thus, socioeconomic and other reasons for nonattendance of school, as well as how rates vary in different contexts, must be considered in models predicting epidemic outcomes or evaluating public health interventions in the face of major pandemics.